The present invention relates generally to a heat dissipating component and, more particularly, to an evaporator with backup thermal conductance for use with an electronic device.
The removal of heat from electronic components is a problem continuously faced by electronic packaging engineers. As electronic components have become smaller and more densely packed on integrated boards and chips, designers and manufacturers now are faced with the challenge of how to dissipate the heat generated by these components. It is well known that many electronic components, especially semiconductor components such as transistors and microprocessors, are more prone to failure or malfunction at high temperatures. Thus, the ability to dissipate heat often is a limiting factor on the performance of the component.
Electronic components within integrated circuits have been traditionally cooled via forced or natural convective circulation of air within the housing of the device. In this regard, cooling fins have been provided as an integral part of the component package or as separately attached elements thereto for increasing the surface area of the package exposed to convectively-developed air currents. Electric fans have also been employed to increase the volumetric flow rate of air circulated within the housing. For high power circuits (as well as smaller, more densely packed circuits of presently existing designs), however, simple air circulation often has been found to be insufficient to adequately cool the circuit components.
It is also well known that heat dissipation, beyond that which is attainable by simple air circulation, may be effected by the direct mounting of the electronic component to a thermal dissipation member such as a xe2x80x9ccold-platexe2x80x9d, evaporator, or other heat sink.
Such applications oftentimes incorporate the heat removal capabilities of refrigeration cooling systems at electronic modules of the circuitry by utilizing water-to-air cooling loop configurations, for example. Water-to-air cooling loop configurations generally include discretely positioned units between which fluid communication is maintained via tubing lines or similar conduits. The units of such configurations include pumps to circulate cooling water, heat exchange devices to transfer heat from the circuitry to the water, fans for providing cooling air flow across the heated water, and water storage reservoirs. The aggregated componentry of such configurations may occupy considerable volumes within their respective systems. Because space is at a premium in most electronics applications, particularly as the sizes of the systems are reduced to keep pace with technological trends, cooling systems may be likewise reduced in size. In addition, higher end modules having increased density of electronic circuitry require redundant or backup cooling means in the event that the primary refrigeration cooling unit fails, while limiting the space needed to employ such a redundant or secondary cooling means.
This disclosure presents an apparatus for integrating the individual components of a cooling unit for electronics applications. The integrated cooling unit removes heat primarily via a refrigerant system having circulating refrigerant coolant and including a reservoir to contain the coolant, a tubing arrangement disposed at an outer surface of the reservoir, a pump disposed within the reservoir, and a fan to provide a flow of air across the tubing arrangement to remove the heat. The tubing arrangement is fluidly communicable with a heat exchanging device, and the pump circulates the liquid coolant through the tubing arrangement to the heat exchanging device.